The History of the Church : The Medieval Church - Main Themes

 Authority  Discerning the Faith  Christendom & the

Wider World  Monasticism

The Medieval Church (500-1500) : Timeline

  500 AD Clovis, King of the Franks, baptised

  536 AD Belisarius recaptures Rome

  563 AD St Columba founds Iona monastery

  711 AD Moors invade Spain   800 AD Charlemagne crowned

Holy Roman Emperor by Pope   990 AD Orthodox Church

founded in Russia

  1054 schism between Eastern & Western Churches

  1096 AD First Crusade   1209 AD St Francis founds

Franciscans   1347-52 AD The Black

Death   1453 Turks capture

Constantinople   1454 AD Gutenberg Bible   1492 Moors defeated in Spain

1. Authority : Rome Rome was sacked in :

  390 by the Gauls   410 by the Visigoths   455 by the Vandals   546 by the Ostrogoths   846 by the Arabs   1084 by the Normans   1527 by mutinous troops of

Charles V

1. Authority : The Papacy   537-752 : “Byzantine Papacy”   752-904 : Frankish influence   904-1048 : Roman Families &

multiple Popes   1048-1257 : Popes v Emperors.   1257-1377 : Avignon etc   1378-1417 : Western Schism :

multiple popes   1417-1534 : Renaissance Papacy

1. Authority : Pope Gregory the Great (590-604)

  First monk to become Pope   Pastoral : ate with 12 poor people every

day   Reformed the Church   Strongly encouraged Missions (eg sent

Augustine to England) : adopting native customs

  Gregorian Chant   “The care of the whole Church has been

committed to the Blessed Peter, Prince of the Apostles.”

1. Authority : Charlemagne (742-814)   Gave “The Donation of

Pepin” (2/3rds Italy) to the Papacy in 774.

  Crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Leo lll in 800

  “My task is to defend the Church of Christ and your’s ( Pope Leo ll) is to raise your hands to God like Moses to ensure the victory of our arms.”

1. Authority : Pope Innocent lll (1198 – 1216 )

  Claimed supremacy over Kings : “We are the successor of the Prince of the Apostles but we are not his Vicar – not the Vicar of any man or Apostle but the Vicar of Jesus Christ Himself.”

  “The Pope is lower than God but higher than man. He is the one who judges all and is judged by no one.”

  Reformed Canon Law   Increasingly International Church : 500+

bishops attended Second Lateran Council in 1139

1. Authority : Church – State Conflicts   Pope Gregory Vll (1073-85) : Church

should have ultimate authority eg to depose kings, judge disputes.

  Investiture controversy: Pope Gregory Vll excommunicates & deposes Emperor Henry IV . Resolved in Concordat of Worms 1122

  King Henry ll & Thomas Becket : Royal submission before St Thomas’ tomb in 1174

2. Discerning the Faith : Church Councils

Council Outcome

Constantinople ll (553) Confirmed first 4 Councils & condemned Nestorianism

Constantinople lll (680-681) Defined 2 Wills in Christ ending Monothelitism

Nicaea ll (787) Regulated veneration of holy images / icons

Constantinople IV (869) Condemned Photius & supported clerical celibacy

Lateran l (1123) Abolished right of lay investiture & confirmed clerical celibacy

Lateran ll (1139) Crusade against Islam

2. Discerning the Faith : Church Councils

Council Outcome

Lateran lll (1179) Condemned Albigenses & Waldenses & decress on reforming morals

Lateran IV (1215) Transubstantiation / Annual penance & communion. High point of papal power

Lyons l (1245) Excommunicated Frederic ll & new crusade under St Louis

Lyons ll (1274) Attempt at reuniting with Eastern Church

Vienne (1311-13) Suppressed Knights Templars etc

2. Discerning the Faith : St Thomas Aquinas (1225 – 1274)

 Dominican who rejected Archbishopric of Naples to write his Summa Theologica

 Nicknamed “the Dumb Ox”   Reconciled Aristotle & Christianity   Sets out objections to Christianity

& best responses  Declared a Saint in 1323 & Doctor

of the Church in 1567

2. Discerning the Faith : St Thomas Aquinas : Key Teachings

  The goal of human existence is union & eternal fellowship with God through the beatific Vision after death

  We can deduce the existence of God & His attributes through reason but certain specifics require Revelation eg the Incarnation & the Trinity

  Salvation is a gift from God which involves us loving what God loves & this provides the impetus to lead a moral life

  A Just War requires a just purpose, proper authority & peace as its central motive

2. Discerning the Faith : Cathedrals   Cathedral : cathedra (seat, of a

bishop)   A hymn to the glory of God ; the

Christian Soul’s progress towards salvation

  Often oriented East / West towards the rising sun symbolising the Risen Christ

  Generally in shape of the Cross : the vertical Nave = the ship of life

St John Lateran, Rome

Plan of Salisbury Cathedral

2. Discerning the Faith : The Great Schism   July 16, 1054: East-West Schism or

the Great Schism : issues of “filioque” clause, authority of Pope, cultural & language differences , married clergy, iconoclasm etc

  Mutual excommunication.   Sack of Constantinople in 1204

(Fourth Crusade)   1965 Pope Paul Vl & Patriarch

Athenagoruas l “regret the offensive words & actions on both sides, the sentences of excommunication” & hoped for full communion.

3. Christendom & the Wider World : Spread of Christianity

By 1200

3. Christendom & the Wider World : Eastern Orthodox Church

  Focused on Hagia Sophia ; by 612 – 80 priests & 150 deacons

  977 : Prince Vladimir of Kiev investigated best religion for Russia & chose Eastern Othodox. “We did not know whether we were in heaven or on earth. We only know there is God present among men & their service is the best of all.”

  Collapse of Byzantine Empire 1453 – Moscow seen as the “Third Rome”.

3. Christendom & the Wider World : Medieval Shrines

  Rome : St Peter and St Paul R.   Assisi : St Francis A.   Santiago de Compostela : St James

the Great S.   Guadalupe : Image of Virgin G.   Canterbury : St Thomas Becket C.   Le Mont-Saint-Michel : St Michael

M.   Tours : St Martin T.   St Antoine l'Abbaye : St Anthony

A.   St Maximin : St Mary Magdalene

M.   Vézelay : St Mary Magdalene V.   Cologne : The 3 Kings K.

3. Christendom & the Wider World : Spread of Islam

 Mohammed (570 -632)  Qur’an : (“That which is to be recited”) : “ The Oneness of

God”   638: Christian Jerusalem and Syria conquered by Muslims.   642: Egypt falls to the Muslims, then the rest of North

Africa.   711: Muslim armies invade Spain.   732: Muslim advance into Western Europe halted by

Charles Martel at Poitiers, France.   1492 : Moors defeated in Spain

3. Christendom & the Wider World : Spread of Islam

3. Christendom & the Wider World : The Crusades

“Deus lo Volt”  Pope Urban ll calls for “the Peace of God” (Holy War) to deliver Jerusalem from Islam

  “If any man sets out to free the Church of God at Jerusalem out of pure devotion & not out of love for glory or gain, the journey shall be accounted a complete penance on his part.”

3. Christendom & the Wider World : The Crusades

  First Crusade1096 – 1099 : The People's Crusade - Freeing the Holy Lands. Most successful Crusade.

  Second Crusade1144 -1155 Attack on Damascus.    Third Crusade 1187 -1192 : Richard the Lionheart

of England, Philip II of France, and Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I. Saladin retakes most of the Holy land but allows access to Jerusalem.

   Fourth Crusade1202 -1204 : Sack of Constantinople

   The Children's Crusade1212 : French peasant boy, Stephen of Cloyes ?

3. Christendom & the Wider World : The Crusades

  Fifth Crusade1217 – 1221 : St Francis of Assisi & Franciscans as Custodians

  Sixth Crusade1228 – 1229: Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II - Control of Jerusalem until 1244.

  Seventh Crusade1248 – 1254 : Louis IX of France. Defeat.

  Eighth Crusade1270 Led by Louis IX. Defeat.  Ninth Crusade1271 – 1272 : Prince Edward (later

Edward I ). Defeat.

3. Christendom & the Wider World : Effects of the Crusades

  Slowed advance of Islam   Weakened Byzantine Empire   Increased trade with east   Improved shipbuilding   Growth of Italian banking   Stimulated missions in Iran, C Asia &

China   Franciscans as Caretakers in Palestine   1-3 million died

3. Christendom & the Wider World : The Black Death (1347-52)

  Spread from Central Asia by rats’ fleas (bacterium Yersinia Pestis)

  25 million died – 30-60% of population of Europe. 150 years to recover.

  Many priests, monks died : Mass often unavailable. Impact on quality of clergy.

  No great loss of faith : churches, shrines built by grateful survivors

  Scapegoats sought eg Jews (“well poisoners”)

  “I wait among the dead for death to come” (John Clynn, Irish Franciscan)

4. Monasticism   St Anthony of Egypt (251-356) : first type

of monasticism : “athletes of Christ”   St Benedict (480-543) of Nursia’s Rule

( 73 Chapters) set standard for West   Emphasis on poverty, chastity & obedience

with regular congregate meals, standard dress & “ moderate” life of work, sleep & prayer

  Abbot was in charge but had to consult the body of monks & obey the Rule

  The monasteries became very wealthy : in 1066 , 35 monasteries controlled 1/6th total revenue of England

4. Monasticism : Religious Orders Order Founder Habit Nature

1. Benedictines St Benedict c529

Black Study & communal living

2. Cistercians St Bernard c1115

White Strict poverty

3. Trappists De Rance 1664 White Silence, vegetarianism

4. Augustinians Pope Innocent c1244

Black Work with the poor

5. Franciscans St Francis c 1210

Brown Poverty

4. Monasticism : Religious Orders Order Founder Habit Nature

6. Dominicans St Dominic 1216

White / black cloak

Mendicants

7. Jesuits St Ignatius 1540 Black / high collar

Missionaries

8. Carmelites St Berthold c 1150

Brown / white mantle

Contemplative

9. Ursulines St Angela c 1537

Black Teaching

10. Capuchins Matteo di Bassi c 1525

Hooded habit Austerity, poverty

4. Monasticism : Notable Women   Abbess Hilda of Whitby (614-80)   St Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) :

Doctor of the Church, Composer   St Catherine of Sienna (1347-1380) :

Doctor of the Church   St Teresa of Avila (1515-82) :

Carmelite theologian & Mystic   Julian of Norwich (1342-1416) :

Anchoress, Mystic, Writer

Hildegaard of Bingen

4. Monasticism : Religious Orders Benedictine Abbey of Cluny, France

4. Monasticism : A Medieval Monastery

  1 Abbot or Prior's house 2 Almonry 3 Bakehouse 5 Buttery (storage) 8 Cemetary 9 Chapels 10 Chapter House 11 Church 12 Cloister 14 Dormitory 15 Farm 17 Fraterhouse or "refectory“ 20 Guest Houses 21 Infirmary

22 Kitchen 23 Lay brothers’ dormitory 24 Library

4. Monasticism : Daily Life   Prayer & Worship   Washing and cooking   Raising supplies of vegetables and grain   Reaping, Sowing, Ploughing, Binding and Thatching,

Haymaking and Threshing   Producing wine, ale and honey   Providing medical care   Providing education   Copying manuscripts of classical authors   Providing hospitality for pilgrims

4. Monasticism : Daily Life  Matins : 2 am   Lauds : 5am   Prime : 6am   Terce : 9 am   Sext : noon  Nones : 3 pm   Vespers : 4 - 5pm  Compline : recited before

retiring 6pm

4. Monasticism : Habits   A tunic, tied around the waist

with a cloth or leather belt   A scapula : a long wide piece of

woollen cloth worn over the shoulders with an opening for the head

  A cowl / hood   Hair shirt (optional)   A cross upon a chain around the

neck

The Medieval Church : Quiz 1.  Who was the first monk to

become Pope? 2.  When was the Schism

between East & West? 3.  Which Pope said the Pope

is “lower then God but higher than man”?

4.  What was the name of St Thomas Aquinas’ great work?

5.  What time was Compline?

1.  Gregory the Great (590-604)

2.  1054

3.  Pope Innocent III (1198-1216)

4.  The Summa Theologica

5.  About 6pm – and then to bed!